If
(a) Arsenal win 2-1 at St James’ Park;
(b) Chelsea draw 0-0 at the Bridge against the Toffees on the final day,
Both teams will be identical on (a) points (b) GD (c) goals scored (d) goals conceded.
and there could be a playoff to decide on third place.
Would not happen, surely. But in the realms of possibility. Interesting.
Stat courtesy F365.
Nothing new here, but for an amazing line.
And here’s the line:
Were all those cold winter mornings on the training pitch to gain glory in the shirt or drive home from training in a flash car? Actually, don’t answer that.
This is a good enough line to start writing a short story on it…
Article in F365
One Acronym. BRIC(S)
The world is changing, the world’s economic power centers are getting more evenly distributed. Sport is always a follower of global economic trends – If anything, this is a lagging indicator.
To Andrew McGrath with reference to the Bits And Bobs And A Potential Malbox Game, well there is no doubt France would probably even beat the English team (I can only see a weaker goalkeeper and right back, and Sagna is steady like the Neviller, and crazy Barthez was good on his day) This is how the team should line up…
Barthez; Evra, Desailley, Gallas; Sagna; Vieira, Makelele (no Petit, can you imagine! ); Pires, Ginola; Henry, Cantona.
Can you imagine that? Just have a look at the last three names ! For the matter, e ven a second France team will be quite handy, with Lama; Clichy, Distin, Blanc, Lassana Diarra (has played in RB, and will be better than Chimbonda); Petit, Flamini, Nasri, Malouda; Anelka, Saha.
The Dutch should be quite handy too: Van Der Sar; Van Bronckhorst; Zenden; Stam; Heitinga; Robben, Overmars, Davids, Gullit; Bergkamp, van Nistelrooy…. And that’s leaving behind Van Persie, Hasselbaink, De Jong etc. Even Kuyt.
Jaxx {[()]} B
JD (Irish Gooners), Koscielny is five months into his first season in English football. Where was Evra in his fifth month in English football? Where was Vidic? Right, exactly where Koscielny is right now.
Are you a ManU fan? Because this is exactly how they moaned about Evra and Vidic then.
Third paragraph. Grow up.
Jaxx [{()}] B
Jaxx View 4 (click here)
…Rangers short-changed football indeed! Rangers, playing away against a team about 20 ranks ahead of them in World Club rankings, short changed football indeed.
But of course Man United in 2008 against Barcelona didn’t, and Chelsea in 2009 against Barca again didn’t, and Inter against Barca last year didn’t (oooooh, Mourinho is such a genius too !), why even my beloved Arsenal against ManU at the finals of the 2005 FA Cup final didn’t. And these teams weren’t 20 positions behind the other in club rankings.
I am pretty sure this mail will not be published as this is not drastic, controversial or rabble-rousing. But let me say this nonetheless. To Carl (Please Arsene, please give the armband to Vermaelen), AFC, you surprise me. Comparing the Cesc scenario with the Adebayor scenario is pretty damn ridiculous. Adebayor was not a Man City trainee (or a Manchester born-and-bred), and neither was be brought up as a 16-year-old at Arsenal. Why is it so difficult to understand, Cesc has always mentioned in interviews that he wants to return to Barca someday, and all of us Arsenal fans were kind of okay with the ‘he will return someday, but not soon’ rhetoric. Now who decides if that someday is today? Cesc does of course, not us. (Caveat: All Arsenal can do is decide whether they will sell him, and if yes, at what price)
Now similarly, in all the interviews, Cesc has claimed nothing but admiration for Arsenal, and post-World Cup, he has had only good things to say for our club. I have no doubt that he loves Arsenal, we indeed are the club that brought him up from a young upstart to the best central midfielder in the world. I am similarly sure he loves Barcelona more. Is that the right or wrong thing to do? That’s not for us to decide, really. That’s his call. And I believe the two options that are suggested to him by assorted hacks and fans.. those of a) either tell Barca to f*** off as he is an Arsenal player; or b) Throw a strop and demand a move to Barca, are neither feasible to him as he admires both the clubs. So what does he do? He pretty much shuts up, and would talk to Arsene Wenger this week, not to the media. It’s obvious he has decided that he wants to move, but not at the cost of a detriment to the club that brought him up. I think that is a good thing, and the right thing to do. And I sincerely believe that his discussion will be about how much money is enough for Arsene for Cesc to move next year.
Barca has been despicable (Xavi, especially, shut up already you moron), and if I would have been Cesc, I would have lost some respect for the club. But losing some respect does not mean hating Barca and not wanting to move, it probably just means wishing that they would just sit down and not embarrass him any more (and maybe, in 2011 or maybe 2012 when he lands up there, landing a punch up Xavi’s nose…now that would really be good). But Cesc wants out, and it is the job of the club, and M. Wenger, to ensure that they get fair value for him. and that is 60m. In the summer of 2011. Jack will be ready, and Rambo will be back by then.
Fourth paragraph. I really have made it impossible for you to publish this now, haven’t I?
Interesting post by Johnny Nich (click here).
However, I disagree with one point.
As I say, some think Arsenal’s football is sublime. Others find it too fussy and lightweight, seeing it as the ultimate expression of the middle-classifying of the game, stripping away the traditional blokey working-class physicality, replacing it with a more cerebral, intelligent football ballet performed by metro-sexual boys.
There is a working-class in other parts of the world too. Maradona came from there. Pele came from there. Rooney came from there. Scholes came from there. However, Lampard did not. Vialli did not. Kaka did not. Broad brushstrokes do not define the world.
And cerebral football is not a middle class virtue. It is a proper footballing virtue. Physicality, like cerebral, intelligent football, is a footballing virtue, not a working class virtue. And brutality is not a virtue, it is a blot on the game.
And if you go to the football to watch a broken leg or a busted head, please go watch the WWE.
…This is for Nigel, London . If I play a pedant, I will agree that Hull might be safer than Soweto. But is the parameter for hosting the WC that the country will have to be as safe as the UK? You will be left with only a handful of countries. Europe. US and Canada maybe, and a handful of countries in Asia. That’s that. Let’s see – One of the best world cups ever has been the one in Mexico ’70, and I cannot believe that Mexico in ’70 (why, even ’86) was more safe than South Africa in 2010, in terms of violent crimes as a ratio of population density. Similarly the Indian sub-continent and the cricket world cups and similar events. They do a good job, don’t they? And South Africa is a reasonably rich country, they should have enough money to ensure complete security.
Oh, and John Nich’s article is a must read to address this kind of sentiment.
Jaxx {[()]} B
…This is the second time I am writing something similar, so sorry there. But this is for Dave (no I have nothing better to do…)
Many ManUnited fans (and others too) tend to mention that they would like Owen in the World Cup because they will ‘back him to score against Brazil in the last minute’ (and not, say, Defoe). That reminds me that an injury-ravaged, slowed down old goal-poacher (indeed, arguably the best goal-poacher the world seen in the last 10-20 years, possibly ever) is banging them in for fun at Corinthians in Brazil (something Owen isn’t doing, incidentally; not yet at least)…And he does not have a whiff of a chance for a place in the World Cup for Brazil.
Lesson – Form and fitness over luck. So many makeshifts fitted into the team, just to ensure the last-minute thing against Brazil? Think of it, you have Argentina in the second round, and Messi is running at Barry/ Lescott…You can lose it all there. And carrying Owen to the finals for that last-minute miracle might come up three rounds short.
Jaxx [{()}] B
